Below are Beck’s Nine Principles he wants you to agree on:1. America is good.Depends on the circumstances. It can be good but it also has the potential to be very very bad. Freedom of speech = good. Trapping civilians in Sadr city before bombing the crap out of it = bad.2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.<----- All thought ends here, I guess.3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.But what if you're already honest? What about circumstances where absolute honestly causes unnecessary harm?4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.Nothing is sacred, the idea of absolutes is silly. Some families are toxic, get away from them before they suffocate all that makes life worth living. Its more important to create lasting bonds with people that can have healthy relationships with you, than to put up with abuse due to a blood tie. And what the fuck is with this ultimate authority crap? When it comes down to isn't it always the guy with the gun, the authority over life and death, that has the ultimate authority? And even then, shouldn't you call bullshit?5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.Bullshit. Presidents don't have to. Priests and celebrity pedophiles don't have to either. Sorry, paying a settlement doesn't count. Branding a guy a sex offender for pissing in the park isn't justice, its just punishment for getting caught. The purpose of the law shouldn't be to hand out punishments to disobedient citizens. It should be about quarantine and rehabilitation. Rehabilitate those that have to potential to participate in society without endangering others, quarantine those that pose a continued and viable threat to the rest of us.6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.That's not a very good excuse to allow people in my town to sleep on the streets with no shelter from the elements.7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.So, it's okay to let the homeless suffer? What about homeless children, that's okay too? Besides, what sort of sick bastard would rather his already taxed money go to blowing up foreigners when it could go towards helping our own?8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.First thing I agree with.9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.This is how it should be. Unfortunately the author of this list only seeks to perpetuate the status quo: Steal from the poor and give to the rich.And here is his 12 Values:• Honesty• Reverence<------- of what, and why?• Hope• Thrift<----- a good thing when grocery shopping, a dumb thing when getting the Mrs. an anniversary present• Humility• Charity• Sincerity• Moderation• Hard Work• Courage• Personal Responsibility• FriendshipSee More

]]>Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:19:28 +00000000000000214e8d000000000141eeea45aecda58c821404Creature added a discussion to the group Legalize It!http://atheistnexus.org/xn/detail/2182797:Topic:240532?xg_source=activity
Creature added a discussion to the group Legalize It!

Via democrats.assembly.ca.govAmmiano Proposes Bill To Tax And Regulate MarijuanaLegislation Would Generate $1 Billion in New Revenue for CASan Francisco, CA – Today Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) announced the introduction of groundbreaking legislation that would tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. The Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education act (AB 390) would create a regulatory structure similar to that used for beer, wine and liquor, permitting taxed sales to adults while barring sales to or possession by those under 21.“With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense. This legislation would generate much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes”, said Ammiano. “California has the opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana.”read moreSee More

]]>Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:45:32 +00000000000000214e8d000000000141eeea2d42263ddf8cc313Creature added a discussion to the group Legalize It!http://atheistnexus.org/xn/detail/2182797:Topic:239093?xg_source=activity
Creature added a discussion to the group Legalize It!

Stoners In The Misthttp://www.abovetheinfluence.com/stoners/I found the level on camp involved with this to be quite funny. Then there were some things I didn't find quite so funny:*According to their portrayal a stoned driver drives about the same as a drunk driver. Now I'm not about to hop in a car with a driver that I know to be anything less than sober, but a stoned person is more likely to be going about 20 mph under the speed limit not the other way around.*They have a quiz that is set up to portray marijuana as being more dangerous than other substances both legal and illegal.*They claim that it is an addictive substance. Meth is addictive. Herion is addictive. Cigarettes are addictive. Anyone that has quit smoking and smoked marijuana on a semi regular basis understands the difference. It's not even in the same ball park.See More

U.N. Anti-Blasphemy Resolution Via Atheist Media BlogThe fact that these people are pushing so hard to shut the rest of us up, makes me suspect that they know they are in the wrong. Sorry guys if you want to worship a pedophile, brain wash kids into becoming suicide bombers, and treat women like property, I will criticize you and I don't care whether or not it hurts your feelings.See More

Anyone interested in donating go here.Here's what they sent me:Freethought on Wheels: With Goal to Hop on Buses & Subways Around Nation!FFRF Announces its First Online Fundraising Campaign: Let's Show the Brits That 'Yes We Can' Do It, Too!FFRF Debuts New Freethought Bus Sign CampaignClick on signs to enlargeFeb. 12, 2009People looking for 'a sign' need look no further than buses in Madison, Wis. For the next two months, they may not find a 'sign from God'--but will discover irreverent, thought-provoking messages compliments of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.The Madison, Wis.-based association, representing nearly 14,000 nonbelievers nationwide, is debuting six new and provocative bus signs to go up tomorrow. They bear quotations by five famous freethinkers or skeptics of history, plus a quote from a contemporary: evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of the blockbuster bestseller, The God Delusion.Dawkins' smiling face is juxtaposed by one of his famous lines from The God Delusion: "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction."The quotation selected for Clarence Darrow, the agnostic "attorney for the damned" who famously represented John Scopes in the 1925 Monkey Trial in Dayton, Tenn., is: "I don't believe in God, because I don't believe in Mother Goose."A four-line poem by Emily Dickinson is featured:"Faith" is a fine inventionWhen gentlemen can see–But microscopes are prudentIn an emergency!Dickinson, Gaylor pointed out, wrote some conventional poetry about religion, but as she got older, increasingly reflected a skeptical viewpoint. The poet refused pressure to join her family church, and stopped attending church altogether by her late twenties.Actress Butterfly McQueen, famous for her typecast role as "Prissy" in the movie, "Gone with the Wind," was a nearly lifelong atheist, and a Lifetime Member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The Foundation chose one of McQueen's quotes from an interview with the Atlanta Journal and Constitution in 1989: "As my ancestors are free from slavery, I am free from the slavery of religion."A cryptic quote from "Puddinhead Wilson" by Mark Twain, author of the irreverent War Prayer and Letters from the Earth, is featured: "Faith is believing what you know ain't so."Actress Katharine Hepburn is quoted saying, "I'm an atheist, and that's it. I believe that there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people" (Ladies Home Journal, Oct. 1991).All except the sign with the longer quotation featuring Hepburn bear portraits of the featured freethinkers.A lot of American freethinkers were impressed with the recent British "There's probably no God, so quit worrying and enjoy your life" exterior bus sign campaign, and have urged the Foundation to do something similar, Gaylor noted."We'll need to see the same outpouring of support from U.S. freethinkers, because to make an impact in the United States is a lot more challenging," Gaylor noted. The British humanists raised more than $200,000 in a few weeks last fall in an online appeal. The Foundation is announcing its first online fundraiser in hopes it can take its educational messages to major city transit systems, with a goal to get them on New York City subways.The Foundation placed what is believed to be the first nontheist bus sign in 1983 in Madison, Wis., according to Gaylor, after stopping a state/church violation involving Madison Metro. The city bus company had placed free ads saying, "Keep Christ in Christmas," for the Knights of Columbus. The Foundation's first bus sign read: "The Bible: A Grim Fairy Tale." In 1984, the Foundation placed a second bus sign, showing a delighted Mary running out of the stable exclaiming, "It's a Girl!"The Foundation is concentrating on interior bus advertising, because it is more affordable than exterior ads, and permits more meaningful messages."Interior bus signs have the benefit of a 'captive audience' of bored passengers, so we hope riders in Madison will find our signs diverting," added Gaylor.The Foundation launched a national billboard campaign in late 2007, and has placed billboards--variously reading "Imagine No Religion," "Beware of Dogma," "Praise Darwin: Evolve Beyond Belief" and "Keep Religion OUT of Politics"--in about a third of the states so far. Like the billboards, the aesthetically-pleasing bus signs bear the Foundation's signature stained-glass window motif."If we're going to be controversial, then we think at least our message should be attractive," said Gaylor.She said the Foundation gets new requests to place billboards every week, "and it's just a matter of raising the funds as we go, so we can take our billboard campaign and new bus/subway signs around the nation," Gaylor added."It's a 'sign of the times' that those of us who are nonreligious, freethinkers, atheists, and agnostics, are coming into our own," said Dan Barker, Foundation co-president and author of Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist and Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists.The secular revolution that hit Europe several decades ago is finally making inroads in the United States, Barker added, with surveys showing that 14% to 16% of the adult population now registers as nonreligious."It's about time! Let's return America to its original secular motto: E Pluribus Unum," he joked.The Foundation has placed its handsome billboard, "Praise Darwin: Evolve Beyond Belief," at Randall and Regent Streets in Madison, Wis., to celebrate Charles Darwin's 200th birthday today. The billboards were additionally placed this month at the sites of the historic battle over evolution in the schools in Dover, Penn., and Dayton, Tenn. The "Praise Darwin" billboard was also placed this week in Whitehall, Ohio, and in Grand Junction, Colo., where the city councils there refused to issue a Darwin Day proclamations.Donate to National FFRF Bus Campaign!"Praise Darwin" Billboards Go Up in Dayton, Tenn., & Dover, Penn.FFRF Erects Billboard to Honor Darwin, Not DogmaThe Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., is a national association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics) that has been working since 1978 to keep church and state separate.See More

I've been anticipating this for awhile now. It seems that the Pesident plans to keep his promises, but this is one promise we can't afford to let him keep, not without a fight. We need compassion not religion to help the needy. We recieved the following email from the FFRF earlier today. :FFRF ACTION ALERT! URGENT!We Need Your Help! Protest Faith-based Offices!Dear FFRF Member:The White House needs to hears an immediate outcry over last week's announcement that Bush's faith-based initiative will continue as before (and even be broadened), under the new guise of the White House Council of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The Administration further announced the appointment of a young Pentecostal minister to run the White House faith-based office. While Bush's creation of the "faith-based initiative" was met by a firestorm when first announced, scarcely a whimper has met the current administration's dismaying action. The public soon becomes indifferent to long-lasting violations of the separation between religion and government.Those of us who support the separation of church & state know that a "faith-based" office should never have been set up in the White House or in federal agencies. Government should run on reality and facts, not faith! The United States needs to return to the pre-Bush practice of requiring religious groups to set up secular arms, take down their religious symbols, and keep separate books, before letting them apply for or administer publicly-funded social services. Where public money goes, public accountability should follow.Last summer, candidate Obama vowed he would not as president permit federal grants to go to faith-based groups that discriminate based on religion in hiring and firing. Now the White House is saying each funding situation will be decided on a "case by case" basis by the Attorney General's Office. What a mess! Public money should not be used to discriminate.(See links to information & arguments against the expansion of the faith-based initiative, at end).PHONE:White House Comment Line: 202/456-1111.E-MAIL:http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/Please also express your dismay over this continuing and unnecessary entanglement of church & state in a letter to the editor, online news forums, etc! Make a fuss! Freedom depends on freethinkers!Thank you for your help.MORE INFO:Faith-based Office at White House Violates State/Church Separation - FFRF press releaseFFRF Takes National Prayer Breakfast Remarks to Task - FFRF press releaseObama Transcript National Prayer BreakfastThe President's Executive OrderFFRF's Washington Post Ad to Obama (pdf)See More

]]>Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:37:08 +00000000000000214e8d000000000141eeeabac97ab9f7c67ceaCreature joined A Former Member's grouphttp://atheistnexus.org/xn/detail/2182797:Group:219380?xg_source=activity
Creature joined A Former Member's group

Accepting my place in society is something I have never been comfortable wit h. I've always been too fiercely independent. If it weren't so necessary for my survival I wouldn't conform nearly as much as I do. I'd rather be left to be me alone in my apartment a creature that only emerges when the mood presents itself. I don't like having to suck it up and pretend to be semi normal just to get through the day. I just want to look like me, and act like me but lets face it I'm not what most people are comfortable around. I'm too easily misunderstood and too easily stereotyped.I really don't like being around people that much. They make me uncomfortable and I always feel as if I've been judged harshly and unjustly. Some of this comes from the circumstances I grew up in. Some of this is just me, I think I may have some sort of anxiety disorder. I've dealt with these feelings to varying degrees my entire life. I fake my way through it anymore. My job forces me to interact with strangers on a constant basis. I always feel awkward but I don't get quite so sick to my stomach anymore. I'm very shy and up tight around most people. I tend to worry about someone saying something that will make me blush when I'm in public. This seems irrational to me when I take into consideration the amount of time I've spent over the last 12 years looking at bizarre pornography,seeing images of dead people, watching gory movies, telling dirty jokes, drinking, and hanging out in grave yards. I have to get to know people individually or in a state of intoxication before I can be my laid back crude morbid little self.I get embarrassed so easily, especially when someone calls me on my bull shit. I also have trouble asking people for things I really want, like a job enrollment in classes, that item in the glass case, etc.I'm at my absolute worst on the phone. I have no trouble answering the phone but initiating contact makes me feel ill. I usually have to take a few deep breaths, have a drink or pop a benedryl first.Sometimes these feelings come on and start to overwhelm me when I'm at work. When I have trouble rationalizing it away I'll take something to calm myself down. It really doesn't help that I have some sort of undiagnosed stomach problem. I find myself medicating more than I want to so that I won't crap myself when working with a client. Stress seems to really trigger it and it's become much worse lately. The stomach issue isn't something that I'm going to put off for much longer. I don't have insurance but I'm hoping that I'll qualify for some sort of low income care.Sometimes when I'm wrong about something I can't face whoever called me on it afterwards. I hate feeling like an idiot. I think its because throughout my childhood being an above average student was the only thing I had going for me. I always had a knack for getting near perfect grades whenever I tried. As an adult I'm not quite so sharp. I think that with all things once you get out of the habit being a student doesn't come quite so naturally. I'm not right all of the time any more, and you know what? That's okay. In ways it's easier for me to learn things from other people now. I used to have to soak up everything the first time on my own. It had to be my way or nothing at all. At least now I'm capable of listening to others.It feels good to get that off my chest.In other news financial aid finally went through. I'll still have to pay for one of my classes but I'll be able to start going full time next quarter. I'm very excited to get to pursue my goals once again. The career I've been pursuing the passed few years has really helped me out as a person but it's not what I want for myself. This is my one shot at existence and I'm going to follow my dreams. I've also come close to finishing a short story I've been working on, and it's looking like I'll be able to get some tattoo work I've been thinking about for the passed few years. So yeah there's also a few different things I'm excited about.See More